For months I've been hearing about fracking, basins, Brend crude, all sorts of oil and gas news. I just truly didn't believe it. No, the environmentalists were totally against fracking. That would go the way of the pipeline. NO SIR!!! No don't want no black gold!!! Also, what if we had all the oil in the world? Sitting right here in mid America? It would lie there and die there. It has to get out! How? And natural gas especially. How can you ship natural gas? Great big tanks like many people have in the backyard?

So, I could not be convinced about the boom in oil and gas. But never say never. It not only could happen, it has happened. Fracking has made it possible for the US to extract the best quality oil in the world out of the ground. And a whole lot of it. We rival, if not exceed the Middle East in oil reserves. Yay! This is a gift from God.

But what about shipping? you ask. The pipeline isn't happening. Well, the railroads saw the potential and have started hauling the oil to the coast, making our superior quality oil price competitive with Brent crude oil. Still, you ask, how do you ship natural gas? Well, you just squeeze it up real tiny, like Santa Claus does to get down the chimney, into a liquid state, and pour it into tanker cars, and haul it on the railroads. Too, this technology can be used to power the engine of the train itself. In fact, Ford has introduced F150 trucks that run on natural gas.

So, the next hurdle is liquid natural gas pumps at the filling station. Not unheard of, but not available everywhere. It's an especially good idea for the huge semis, because natural gas is much less polluting than diesel. What about planes? you ask. Excellent question. I know only that the country of Qatar, which does have the world's largest known supply of natural gas, has built an airport that fuels the planes of Qatar Air by natural gas. However, the EU doesn't like the carbon footprint.

I find all this to be thrilling news in its implications. And it has finally come to my attention. Just last night, Pioneer struck oil in the Permian basin in Texas. More oil has been found than anyone knew existed.

Where is all this oil and gas? Well, the traditional place for oil has been Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico in the Permian Basin. Now there's the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, which is like the gold rush of 1849. And the Marcellus field in Pennsylvania is the primo place for natural gas.

Well, how could all this be turned into dollars? Union Pacific railroad the largest transporter of oil, Chevron, with a presence in the Marcellus gas field, EOG Resources, who is the main driller in the Bakken oil formation, Concho Resources, who drills in the Permian basin.

Thank You God.

For months I've been hearing about fracking, basins, Brend crude, all sorts of oil and gas news. I just truly didn't believe it. No, the environmentalists were totally against fracking. That would go the way of the pipeline. NO SIR!!! No don't want no black gold!!! Also, what if we had all the oil in the world? Sitting right here in mid America? It would lie there and die there. It has to get out! How? And natural gas especially. How can you ship natural gas? Great big tanks like many people have in the backyard?

So, I could not be convinced about the boom in oil and gas. But never say never. It not only could happen, it has happened. Fracking has made it possible for the US to extract the best quality oil in the world out of the ground. And a whole lot of it. We rival, if not exceed the Middle East in oil reserves. Yay! This is a gift from God.

But what about shipping? you ask. The pipeline isn't happening. Well, the railroads saw the potential and have started hauling the oil to the coast, making our superior quality oil price competitive with Brent crude oil. Still, you ask, how do you ship natural gas? Well, you just squeeze it up real tiny, like Santa Claus does to get down the chimney, into a liquid state, and pour it into tanker cars, and haul it on the railroads. Too, this technology can be used to power the engine of the train itself. In fact, Ford has introduced F150 trucks that run on natural gas.

So, the next hurdle is liquid natural gas pumps at the filling station. Not unheard of, but not available everywhere. It's an especially good idea for the huge semis, because natural gas is much less polluting than diesel. What about planes? you ask. Excellent question. I know only that the country of Qatar, which does have the world's largest known supply of natural gas, has built an airport that fuels the planes of Qatar Air by natural gas. However, the EU doesn't like the carbon footprint.

I find all this to be thrilling news in its implications. And it has finally come to my attention. Just last night, Pioneer struck oil in the Permian basin in Texas. More oil has been found than anyone knew existed.

Where is all this oil and gas? Well, the traditional place for oil has been Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico in the Permian Basin. Now there's the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, which is like the gold rush of 1849. And the Marcellus field in Pennsylvania is the primo place for natural gas.

Well, how could all this be turned into dollars? Union Pacific railroad the largest transporter of oil, Chevron, with a presence in the Marcellus gas field, EOG Resources, who is the main driller in the Bakken oil formation, Concho Resources, who drills in the Permian basin.

Awwww....Babs. I didn't mean to confuse you. There's no doubt that sometimes I jump the tracks.....especially when I see a blog just sitting idle with no traffic. So sometimes I jump in and just post something! It may or may not be directly related to the original post. And mostly, my motive isn't to just speak to the blogger....it's to speak to other readers as well. Perhaps to provide a provocative thought that hadn't occurred to them. Certainly my intent is not to ever be mean spirited. My apologies if you took my comments as an attempt to call you out on the carpet. I'm the resident 'odd man out' here. I definitely walk to a different drum beat than most here.

Never the less, when you talk about "survival"....it seems to me that there is nothing more important to survival then clean air, clean water, clean food and a stable climate. If aliens landed on the earth and they began poisoning our water and our air, contaminating our soil, clear cutting our forrests, topping off our mountain tops, distroying our roads....don't you think we would try to do something to stop them????

Big oil is the most profitable industry in the history of the world!!! Their reckless disregard for the public welfare in the name of their profits seems grossly out of sync with a sustainable future. The public doesn't get any of that money. What risk is the public willing to take on the behalf of big oil???

Just yesterday the Texas Tribune published a story that 4 counties in west and south Texas have begun grinding up their paved roads into gravel roads because they can not afford the repairs due to the damage caused from oil industry related big trucks. Big oil seems to be doing great, but they don't want to take appropriate responsibility for the damage caused. Really??? We have to drive on gravel roads now? Are we going backwards here? Maybe that's it. Conservatives are always yearning for the 50s.

Perhaps some of our Detroit natives would like to comment on the gigantic piles of Petcoke left open to the elements to blow around in the air and run off into their drinking water source. We're smarter than this aren't we????

Awwww....Babs. I didn't mean to confuse you. There's no doubt that sometimes I jump the tracks.....especially when I see a blog just sitting idle with no traffic. So sometimes I jump in and just post something! It may or may not be directly related to the original post. And mostly, my motive isn't to just speak to the blogger....it's to speak to other readers as well. Perhaps to provide a provocative thought that hadn't occurred to them. Certainly my intent is not to ever be mean spirited. My apologies if you took my comments as an attempt to call you out on the carpet. I'm the resident 'odd man out' here. I definitely walk to a different drum beat than most here.

Never the less, when you talk about "survival"....it seems to me that there is nothing more important to survival then clean air, clean water, clean food and a stable climate. If aliens landed on the earth and they began poisoning our water and our air, contaminating our soil, clear cutting our forrests, topping off our mountain tops, distroying our roads....don't you think we would try to do something to stop them????

Big oil is the most profitable industry in the history of the world!!! Their reckless disregard for the public welfare in the name of their profits seems grossly out of sync with a sustainable future. The public doesn't get any of that money. What risk is the public willing to take on the behalf of big oil???

Just yesterday the Texas Tribune published a story that 4 counties in west and south Texas have begun grinding up their paved roads into gravel roads because they can not afford the repairs due to the damage caused from oil industry related big trucks. Big oil seems to be doing great, but they don't want to take appropriate responsibility for the damage caused. Really??? We have to drive on gravel roads now? Are we going backwards here? Maybe that's it. Conservatives are always yearning for the 50s.

Perhaps some of our Detroit natives would like to comment on the gigantic piles of Petcoke left open to the elements to blow around in the air and run off into their drinking water source. We're smarter than this aren't we????

It is absolutely true about the drinking water in NYS. In fact, NYS tap water is so contaminated with sodium, calcium and I think it's magnesium......people with cardiac problems are advised not to drink tap water because it may worsen their heart condition. There used to be limits on these type of hard minerals, but the EPA actually lifted any limit at all.

We had 3 lawsuits just north of Dallas where I live. Farmers suing drilling companies for contaminating their wells. They can't prove the poison is coming from the nearby drilling operations because the chemicals are proprietary and therefore secret. Never the less....otherwise healthly cattle are dropping dead.

I never heard of anyone getting poisoned from a windmill....they rarely blow up....or spill disgusting, toxic oil on our land or in our gulf. I don't mind drilling, but by God these companies are making BILLIONS and need to be able to demonstrate they can do it safely.....and that they have effective disaster plans for containment and clean up!!!!

There are more important things than money and consumption. IMHO

Bab,

It is absolutely true about the drinking water in NYS. In fact, NYS tap water is so contaminated with sodium, calcium and I think it's magnesium......people with cardiac problems are advised not to drink tap water because it may worsen their heart condition. There used to be limits on these type of hard minerals, but the EPA actually lifted any limit at all.

We had 3 lawsuits just north of Dallas where I live. Farmers suing drilling companies for contaminating their wells. They can't prove the poison is coming from the nearby drilling operations because the chemicals are proprietary and therefore secret. Never the less....otherwise healthly cattle are dropping dead.

I never heard of anyone getting poisoned from a windmill....they rarely blow up....or spill disgusting, toxic oil on our land or in our gulf. I don't mind drilling, but by God these companies are making BILLIONS and need to be able to demonstrate they can do it safely.....and that they have effective disaster plans for containment and clean up!!!!

Fracking! That's what I want near my water well. Last year the EPA revised the safe limits for drinking water in NYS. Lolol....across the board they loosened chemical contamination limits....stuff like arsenic and barium.

Fracking! That's what I want near my water well. Last year the EPA revised the safe limits for drinking water in NYS. Lolol....across the board they loosened chemical contamination limits....stuff like arsenic and barium.

But, you know, our president is a lame duck now. I really don't see Hillary stepping up to the plate. Why? Well, it looks to me like we've been electing people perceived to have "sex appeal." OK, I don't see it. People want a sort of movie star person. Hillary isn't it. I hope.

So I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Hi Curious!

But, you know, our president is a lame duck now. I really don't see Hillary stepping up to the plate. Why? Well, it looks to me like we've been electing people perceived to have "sex appeal." OK, I don't see it. People want a sort of movie star person. Hillary isn't it. I hope.

Honestly, this administration's vetoing the exploitation of all of our natural fuel reserves has my head in a total tail spin. I can't even write what I would like to do to Obama and his minions over this issue because to do so would mean than the IRS, the CIA and the FBI would be at my doorstep tomorrow morning. LOLOL. And, frankly, I do NOT want to have to deal with any of them. My mouth would sound off so loudly and "politically incorrectly" that I'd be thrown in jail for sure.

Quoting Dakota35:

But Obama is against it all and has opted for renewable energies. I've been following fracking for some time now. I'm fine with it, but there are some obstacles...environmentalist being the biggest, along with the idea that hydraulic fracking can cause earthquakes and contaminated water supply. I still think we are several years away from seeing a huge impact. But if our government would welcome this, it would be great for the economy. Cheap fuel puts money in the consumers pockets, consumers spend, economy recovers, people are happy.

Vote for me as your next President and I'll have gasoline prices under $2. We need to welcome fracking and build a few more refineries. I'm all for the renewable energies...we can bring them along as well. Cheap fuel for everyone in America! Vote for Dave!

Quoting Dakota35:

But Obama is against it all and has opted for renewable energies. I've been following fracking for some time now. I'm fine with it, but there are some obstacles...environmentalist being the biggest, along with the idea that hydraulic fracking can cause earthquakes and contaminated water supply. I still think we are several years away from seeing a huge impact. But if our government would welcome this, it would be great for the economy. Cheap fuel puts money in the consumers pockets, consumers spend, economy recovers, people are happy.

Vote for me as your next President and I'll have gasoline prices under $2. We need to welcome fracking and build a few more refineries. I'm all for the renewable energies...we can bring them along as well. Cheap fuel for everyone in America! Vote for Dave!

Okay, Dak--I vote for DAVE!!!

Honestly, this administration's vetoing the exploitation of all of our natural fuel reserves has my head in a total tail spin. I can't even write what I would like to do to Obama and his minions over this issue because to do so would mean than the IRS, the CIA and the FBI would be at my doorstep tomorrow morning. LOLOL. And, frankly, I do NOT want to have to deal with any of them. My mouth would sound off so loudly and "politically incorrectly" that I'd be thrown in jail for sure.

Wouldn't that be geat? Gas under $2? I think the economic implications of the energy boom we're seeing will really do wonders for us. As far as earthquakes, first, I'm not at all convinced fracking causes earthquakes. It may cause enough shaking to register on a seismograph, but so do other things besides earthquakes. I am convinced that it would not cause an earthquake large enough to cause damage. I personally believe that a lot of people have been mislead by misinformation, and many mindsets would quickly change when they saw money flowing into their very own pocket due to this terrible, terrible fracking, oil, and gas.

Oh, yes! I'll vote for you!

Hello Dave aka Dakota!

Wouldn't that be geat? Gas under $2? I think the economic implications of the energy boom we're seeing will really do wonders for us. As far as earthquakes, first, I'm not at all convinced fracking causes earthquakes. It may cause enough shaking to register on a seismograph, but so do other things besides earthquakes. I am convinced that it would not cause an earthquake large enough to cause damage. I personally believe that a lot of people have been mislead by misinformation, and many mindsets would quickly change when they saw money flowing into their very own pocket due to this terrible, terrible fracking, oil, and gas.

About the US going down. Yes, I personally feel we're becoming polarized, mostly between have infomations and have not informations. I don't know your relgious thoughts, but I honestly believe our energy boom is a gift from God. I feel it could even bail us out of our national debt. I'm sure God could turn things around for us tomorrow. I feel that there are great people in our country, and lots of them. I think we may have a revival, and I feel that would set us back on course.

Hello GreenKindEyes!

Wow! Thank you so much for your comment. So much intelligent thought.

About the US going down. Yes, I personally feel we're becoming polarized, mostly between have infomations and have not informations. I don't know your relgious thoughts, but I honestly believe our energy boom is a gift from God. I feel it could even bail us out of our national debt. I'm sure God could turn things around for us tomorrow. I feel that there are great people in our country, and lots of them. I think we may have a revival, and I feel that would set us back on course.

You know, about the earthquakes. We kept having earthquakes around here, of all places, and they blamed it on gas drilling. Hmmmm.....

As far as having a huge impact, it seems to me that we are seeing a huge impact. One thing that has really made a difference is the railroads getting into transporting the oil to port. And another thing is the liquification of natural gas to make it possible to ship. So, fracking is only part of the story. What I have heard made me feel that it was making oil and gas possible to harvest that it was not possible to harvest before, and that this was being done. It surprised me to hear that, because it seems to me that a lot of things have been done to squash our energy production.

This "sustainable energy" thing, as you know, is a pipe dream. It would cost fabulous amounts of money to produce the energy, and not be as reliable. For example, electric cars don't have a long range and have a hard time with hills, much less mountains. And, there is still lifetimes of fossil fuel left. It seems as shame to just trash that. We could run for hundreds of years on gas, oil, and coal reserves that we already have and when what we have now runs out, find more.

Well...I'm so excited to meet you, an intelligent and strong professional partner in Energy! Whow...you are so refreshing. Executive Recruiter and a Senior Manager of an Energy Company in Electricity Products/Services here and I agree with you on all points.

The fracking issue is being used to maneuver other issues as a diversion from other agendas. Environmental blended in Economic issues are usually not as they seem and scrupulous key individuals tap into being an "Environmentalist" when they really are "Opportunists". The earthquake issue from what I hear from benign objective Environmental Specialists is a ridiculous argument and uses the fear to reign in California.

Where Energy converges in theologies in Political, Environmental and Economic in the same platform, truth does not count today. You can hire anyone to say anything and the true of true Science is buried under the rhetoric in this current political correct culture.We are maneuvering our country off a cliff.If there are no contingency plans five generations from these erroneous decisions, we all will live long enough to see the US dissolved into a mess within our lifetime.

Quoting MillionDollarBab:

You know, about the earthquakes. We kept having earthquakes around here, of all places, and they blamed it on gas drilling. Hmmmm.....

As far as having a huge impact, it seems to me that we are seeing a huge impact. One thing that has really made a difference is the railroads getting into transporting the oil to port. And another thing is the liquification of natural gas to make it possible to ship. So, fracking is only part of the story. What I have heard made me feel that it was making oil and gas possible to harvest that it was not possible to harvest before, and that this was being done. It surprised me to hear that, because it seems to me that a lot of things have been done to squash our energy production.

This "sustainable energy" thing, as you know, is a pipe dream. It would cost fabulous amounts of money to produce the energy, and not be as reliable. For example, electric cars don't have a long range and have a hard time with hills, much less mountains. And, there is still lifetimes of fossil fuel left. It seems as shame to just trash that. We could run for hundreds of years on gas, oil, and coal reserves that we already have and when what we have now runs out, find more.

Well...I'm so excited to meet you, an intelligent and strong professional partner in Energy! Whow...you are so refreshing. Executive Recruiter and a Senior Manager of an Energy Company in Electricity Products/Services here and I agree with you on all points.

The fracking issue is being used to maneuver other issues as a diversion from other agendas. Environmental blended in Economic issues are usually not as they seem and scrupulous key individuals tap into being an "Environmentalist" when they really are "Opportunists". The earthquake issue from what I hear from benign objective Environmental Specialists is a ridiculous argument and uses the fear to reign in California.

Where Energy converges in theologies in Political, Environmental and Economic in the same platform, truth does not count today. You can hire anyone to say anything and the true of true Science is buried under the rhetoric in this current political correct culture.We are maneuvering our country off a cliff.If there are no contingency plans five generations from these erroneous decisions, we all will live long enough to see the US dissolved into a mess within our lifetime.

You know, about the earthquakes. We kept having earthquakes around here, of all places, and they blamed it on gas drilling. Hmmmm.....

As far as having a huge impact, it seems to me that we are seeing a huge impact. One thing that has really made a difference is the railroads getting into transporting the oil to port. And another thing is the liquification of natural gas to make it possible to ship. So, fracking is only part of the story. What I have heard made me feel that it was making oil and gas possible to harvest that it was not possible to harvest before, and that this was being done. It surprised me to hear that, because it seems to me that a lot of things have been done to squash our energy production.

This "sustainable energy" thing, as you know, is a pipe dream. It would cost fabulous amounts of money to produce the energy, and not be as reliable. For example, electric cars don't have a long range and have a hard time with hills, much less mountains. And, there is still lifetimes of fossil fuel left. It seems as shame to just trash that. We could run for hundreds of years on gas, oil, and coal reserves that we already have and when what we have now runs out, find more.

You know, about the earthquakes. We kept having earthquakes around here, of all places, and they blamed it on gas drilling. Hmmmm.....

As far as having a huge impact, it seems to me that we are seeing a huge impact. One thing that has really made a difference is the railroads getting into transporting the oil to port. And another thing is the liquification of natural gas to make it possible to ship. So, fracking is only part of the story. What I have heard made me feel that it was making oil and gas possible to harvest that it was not possible to harvest before, and that this was being done. It surprised me to hear that, because it seems to me that a lot of things have been done to squash our energy production.

This "sustainable energy" thing, as you know, is a pipe dream. It would cost fabulous amounts of money to produce the energy, and not be as reliable. For example, electric cars don't have a long range and have a hard time with hills, much less mountains. And, there is still lifetimes of fossil fuel left. It seems as shame to just trash that. We could run for hundreds of years on gas, oil, and coal reserves that we already have and when what we have now runs out, find more.